Produce Guide - W

Watercress

As its name suggests, watercress is a cress that grows in water. Cresses belong to the mustard family, and their name comes from the Greek word grastis, meaning "green fodder." Other cresses include winter cress, curly cress, and garden cress, but only watercress is commonly available. It grows wild along the banks of fast-flowing rivers, and it is now cultivated worldwide. It has a clean, peppery flavour that can perk up a green salad; it makes a gorgeous soup; and in a classic Béarnaise sauce it goes beautifully with red meat, fish, and eggs.

You'll usually find watercress in amongst the herbs, although now that supermarkets are carrying wider varieties of salad greens it may be tucked in with the lettuces. Look for compact bunches of shiny, deep green leaves, with few thick stems. You can store watercress in water like cut flowers, or trim the thick stems and refrigerate the leaves, wrapped in plastic. As with other delicate salad leaves, watercress is perishable and should be used within a day or two of purchase. It should be very clean already, but you can rinse the leaves in cool water and pat dry.

Because they have such a pungent flavour, cresses are usually classified as herbs, since we tend to use them sparingly. However, watercress is the mildest of the cresses and can be treated as you would other robust greens such as arugula, bearing in mind that when cooked it looses some of its bite. I tend to add it to sauces and soups just before serving, so as not to sacrifice that characteristic sharpness.

Watermelons

The watermelon is a very different creature than melons such as cantaloupe and honeydew. For one thing, it's been around a lot longer. Egyptian wall paintings illustrate that the large, green fruit was cultivated well before 2000 BC. Although the watermelon is native to Africa, it is really America that we associate with this juicy favourite. African slave traders introduced the watermelon, first to South America and then to Massachusetts, by the early 17th century. The Americans bred them for size and sweetness, and there are now some 200 varieties grown in at least 44 states, Central and South America, and Canada.

Although local watermelons are available from mid- to late summer across Canada, we import melons year-round, primarily from Mexico, Texas, and Florida. They come in all shapes and sizes. Watermelons may be round or oval, and weigh as little as five or as much as 45 pounds (2.5-20 kg). Their rinds may be yellow, pale or bright green with darker green stripes, or dark green with lighter green stripes. The flesh, while always juicy, may be pale pink, bright red, or yellow, with a surplus of seeds or none at all. Even the size, shape, and colour of the seeds differ from one variety to the next, which may not interest you unless you're a champion seed-spitter.

Wild Berries

Perhaps "WILD" berries is a bit of a misnomer, as the varieties listed below are now cultivated. However, for the most part they are still rare and expensive to buy, available only in season, and better picked during a family outing, when you can put the kids to work. Many of us have a "secret" berry patch, but some people have an unerring instinct for sniffing them out. These are the individuals you see pulled over on the highway shoulder, with gallon pails and hip waders to protect themselves from brambles and thorns. They must have the same genetic make-up as people who can spot a dime on the road from 50 paces, and I only wish I were one of them.

Of those berries that are not cultivated widely enough to earn them an entire chapter, I have three popular picks. Bakeapples grow in northern climates; in Canada we see them primarily in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the locals celebrate the arrival of autumn with bakeapple festivals. These plump, golden beauties look like yellow raspberries, and have a sweet, musky flavour. The Scandinavians call them by a prettier name, cloudberries, and the northern border of Norway, Sweden, and Finland has seen its share of cloud-berry skirmishes, if not outright wars. At one time the Swedish government even boasted a special department dedicated to cloudberry diplomacy! If you don't have the opportunity to try them fresh, at least buy a jar of bakeapple preserves, which are available at Newfoundland specialty stores across the country.

^ top